LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) - The runway at Britain's London Gatwick airport was briefly closed on Monday after a plane's tyre burst during take off, a spokesman for the airport said.

A runway inspection was ordered after a Air Canada flight was forced to return to the airport following the incident.

The runway had reopened, the Gatwick spokesman said. The airport's website showed small delays for some flights.

Gatwick Airport said in a statement planes are currently using the airport's back-up runway.

"We apologise as flights for the rest of the day will experience delay and there will be some cancellations," the statement said. (Reporting By Andrew MacAskill, Editing by Alistair Smout and Guy Faulconbridge)